News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Thursday, Dec 14th

Posted on December 14, 2023 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for our latest UNDER THE RADAR Video Podcast

-Last night Chicago State did something that 3rd ranked Purdue failed to do! THEY WON AT NORTHWESTERN!!! We had mentioned many times that we thought this Chicago State program was improving, but we were also a little disappointed coming into last night that they hadn’t managed a few more wins. And then…WOW!!!! It’s certainly the biggest game I can ever remember them winning…EVER! And they really battled! Every time Northwestern would appear to have the momentum and control, Chicago State would answer. They held on for a 75-73 win. Our HUGE congrats to the Cougars!!

-Creighton entered last night’s game against UNLV ranked 8th in the nation, and UNLV came in at just 3-4 with no real notable wins and a recent loss to LMU. So naturally, UNLV dominated the whole game and ended up winning 79-64. The game wasn’t really even as close as that score. Now suddenly UNLV has a really good win, and you start to look at a couple of their losses and realize they were close games against decent teams, and think that this is a team who’s season may be about to blast off. Creighton, on the other hand, is still 8-2, but has no real wins of note and were blown out by both UNLV and Colorado State. This was a game that shifted our perspective on both teams.

TONIGHT’S NOTABLE GAMES:

-Jackson State @ Wisconsin
-Furman @ Tulane – Furman is a decent SoCon team, but still doesn’t have a road win. Tulane is having a good year and can get to 7-2 with a win
-East Carolina @ Florida – This shouldn’t be too big of a test for the Gators
-Saint Thomas @ Marquette
-Grambling @ Drake

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Under the Radar (Dec 13th)

Posted on December 13, 2023 by David Griggs

Tonight’s feature conference is the WAC, and we focus on the Grand Canyon Antelopes and what a great season they’re having, especially this past week where they managed wins against San Diego State and Liberty. We look at their chances of landing inside the bubble and not even needing to win the WAC Tournament to make the NCAAs. The Lopes are certainly the team to beat in that league.

From there we run through the other 21 UTR leagues and discuss the strength of the Missouri Valley and how good Indiana State and Drake have looked so far, along with Bradley still potentially being a dangerous team. UNC Wilmington is a team to watch and may be in position to get inside the bubble if they can blow through the CAA. McNeese has a big game coming up against Michigan, and after that may be favored to win all their remaining games and end up with a massively bloated record. UNC Greensboro is another team that may be able to play their way inside the bubble out of the SoCon, and Princeton still looks really strong out of the Ivy League despite the loss. We discuss all that, and more! And, as we do every week, we close with this week’s UTR Top Ten.

And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Wednesday, Dec 13th

Posted on December 13, 2023 by David Griggs

-It has been a very slow week so far. There was so little activity the last two days that we really didn’t even bother with a write-up. Today, we at least have a smattering of games that are worth paying attention to. We will also be recording Under the Radar tonight so be on the lookout for that.

-APPALACHIAN STATE AT QUEENS. James Madison has made most of the noise out of the Sun Belt, but Appalachian State looks to be just as good. One of the things App State has yet to do is win a true road game, and Queens is not an easy place to go and win despite the fact that they are a transitional program. In fact Queens has yet to lose at home, and Appalachian State has yet to win on the road, so this would be a nice win for them if they can pull it off.

-CREIGHTON VS UNLV (Jack Jones Classic, Henderson, NV). It may perhaps be a somewhat pro-UNLV crowd with the game being in Nevada, but it’s still one that Creighton should be able to win without having to sweat too much.

-WEBER STATE AT NEVADA. Both teams have shown they can play at a high level at times, and Nevada is starting to build at least a fairly decent profile at 7-1 overall, but six of those wins have come at home and Weber State has struggled with consistency so far. This would be a good win for either team, but whoever pulls it off will still have work to do.

-UTAH STATE AT SANTA CLARA. I really like what this Utah State team has been able to do so far, but this could be a bit of a tough road test for them. They’re 9-1 on the year, but just one of those wins was in a true road game, and Santa Clara isn’t the easiest place to go. This would definitely help Utah State’s resume if they’re able to pull it off.

-Bryn Athyn (nonD1) @ Princeton
-Florida International @ Florida Atlantic – it’s a rivalry game, but it’s also a huge mismatch
-Murray State @ Mississippi State – Mississippi State is a good team but their resume can’t afford another home buy-game loss
-Chicago State @ Northwestern – perhaps a more compelling game than DePaul vs. Northwestern?
-Tennessee State @ Liberty – Liberty is a good team, but they may be running out of strikes if they want any shot at landing inside the bubble
-UNC Asheville @ Auburn – a likely Big South frontrunner against an Auburn team that I think is better than what they’ve gotten credit for
-Southern Miss @ McNeese – a pretty solid UTR match-up
-Denver @ BYU (Front Range v BeeHive Challange)
-Seattle U @ San Francisco

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The Hoops HD Report (Dec 11)

Posted on December 11, 2023 by David Griggs

Chad, David, and Jon Teitel run through all the major conferences and take a look back at a busy week. Arizona is the top ranked team in the nation and showed they were deserving of it with their blowout win over Wisconsin. In the Big 12, Houston, Kansas, Baylor, and Oklahoma are all high in the rankings and continuing to build up their resumes. Marquette, Creighton, and UConn have all managed big wins and are all ranked in the top ten out of the Big East. Ole Miss remains unbeaten, and Kentucky is starting to bounce back out of the SEC. We discuss all that, and more!

And for all your radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…

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SELECTION MONDAY!! Hoops HD Bracket Projections (From the Puppet) – Dec 11th

Posted on December 11, 2023 by David Griggs

For Today’s NEWS NOTES AND HIGHLIGHTED GAMES – CLICK HERE

Before you look at the bracket, I want to make sure everyone knows what they are looking at. These are NOT my guesses is to what the actual Selection Committee’s Final bracket will look like on Selection Sunday in March. It is also not an attempt to guess what the actual Selection Committee would do if they were picking the field today. These are simply my own picks, and this is a CHECKPOINT based on CURRENT MERIT, and not a ranking of how good I think the teams actually are. I’m only really asking myself one question. How hard is it to win the games that this team has won?? That’s really it.

For instance, I personally think Auburn is really good, but I have them seeded kind of poorly. The reason is that at this point in time, they just haven’t won any games that really jump of the page.

If the season were a 40-minute game, we’d be about at the under-12 media timeout in the 1st half. There is a long way to go and I’m not trying to guess the future. Metaphorically speaking, I’m just trying to show what I think the score is at the under-12 1st half timeout.

Some notes and comments are listed below…

-Conference Champions are notated with an (*)

-Any teams that needed to move seedlines in order to meet bracketing rules have their original seed indicated in (parenthesis)

OTHERS CONSIDERED: Mississippi State, Florida, Duke, Liberty, NC State, Boston College, Saint John’s, Butler, Duquesne, Pittsburgh, Oregon, Nebraska, Xavier, Cincinnati, San Francisco, Iowa, Saint Bonaventure, Southern Illinois, Texas Tech, Indiana, Texas, TCU, Washington State

COMMENTS FROM DAVID:

-What impresses me most is notable wins away from home. The #1 seeds have all done that and I think they’ve started to set themselves apart. Purdue did lose the one true road game that they’ve played, but they’ve beaten so many good teams on neutral sites that it’s impossible to not give them credit for that and recognize that they are one of the best teams in the nation.

-A team like Duke, who was the last team in, has not done a damn thing away from home yet, and has even lost to a Georgia Tech team that is unlikely to make the NIT. I do think Duke is good, and I certainly think they will end up in the NCAA Tournament with a good seed, but this is a checkpoint and not a forecast.

-I really like what teams like Saint Joseph’s and Princeton have done. They’ve played a lot of games that aren’t necessarily against ranked teams, but that were away from home and hard to win and they’ve won the vast majority of them. Joe’s does have the one ugly loss to TAMU-Commerce, and that alone could warrant not being seeded anywhere near where I have them, but I think all their good wins have offset that.

-James Madison is unbeaten and a lot of people will probably try and say they deserve a much better seed than where I have them. While that may be true, in the current state of things that win against Michigan State isn’t quite as valuable as it appeared it would be at the time.

-The earlier in the year it is, the harder this is to do! At least if you’re trying to only measure merit.

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Monday, Dec 11th

Posted on December 11, 2023 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

-We will be recording this week’s Hoops HD Report, so keep an eye out for that and give it a watch or a listen. We will also be posting our latest Bracket Projections later today.

-The game of the day, and perhaps one of the more exciting games of the entire weekend, was Saint Joseph’s 74-70 win over Princeton. It was a well played and exciting game between two teams that both look like top 40 caliber teams and that should end up inside the bubble come March. It was the first loss of the season for Princeton, and even though it was a missed opportunity at a big road win, Princeton’s resume still looks pretty solid. As for Saint Joe’s, they improve to 8-2 on the year and have started to build a really nice resume of their own. It’s a shame this game didn’t get more attention because it was two really good teams with quite a bit of importance in regards to the NCAA Tournament.

-When Miami FL was blown out by Kentucky earlier this year we just thought it was an amazing performance by Kentucky (which it was, but still). Miami FL was blown out again yesterday, this time by Colorado 90-63. While it was an impressive performance by the Buffs, and while the Buffs are also really good, it does start to raise questions about how good Miami actually is. Having said that, other than those two blowouts, the Canes have won all their other games.

-Memphis picked up a really impressive road win as they knocked off a very good Texas A&M rteam 81-75 and were in control for pretty much all 40 minutes. Memphis is putting together quite an impressive profile in the first month of the season and is definitely a team to keep an eye on.

-After a bit of a sluggish start, Long Beach State is now 5-1 in their last six games and they picked up a big one at USC yesterday 84-79 in overtime. I don’t know if this is quite enough to declare Beach a team that can make a run at the bubble, but considering how well they’ve been playing and in looking at their remaining opponents it looks to me that they could really finish with a bloated record. As for USC, I still think they have a ton of potential, but I suppose it’s a good thing for them that they don’t play in the Big West. They’re now just 1-2 against Big West teams with both losses coming at home.

-Ole Miss barely escaped against UCF 70-68, but the Rebels remain unbeaten on the season and pick up their second road win. When I say they barely escaped, you have to go back and watch exactly how this game ended. UCF cut it to 2 in the final seconds of play, then stole the inbounds pass and put in what appeared to be a game tying basket, but the clock expired just a millisecond before they were able to get it off.

-Boston College is now 8-3 on the year after beating Saint John’s 86-80 in the Brooklyn Showcase. BC may not quite be a tournament team, but they’ve improved substantially and should be able to make at least a little bit of noise in the ACC.

-Michigan State continues to not look good. They fell at Nebraska yesterday 77-70, which as an isolated incident is forgivable because Lincoln is not the easiest place to win on the road, but Michigan State is now just 4-5 on the year with absolutely nothing of note on their resume. They have the talent to turn it around, but they’ve shown no signs of it yet.

NOTABLE GAMES (None that are really “Highlightable”):

-HOWARD AT PENN. A MEAC frontrunner against a Penn team that has made some noise this year.

-YALE AT QUINNIPIAC. In in-state battle between a Yale team that we thought would be really good and a Quinnipiac team that’s off to a better-than-exopected 7-2 start.

-MISSISSIPPI VALLY STATE AT GONZAGA. Zags should easily bounce back after the loss to Washington.

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